Wisconsin Hunter Safety Course

If You Fall

If you fall from a treestand and you are properly using a FAS/FBH, remember your 3 R's - Rescue, Relief and Recover.

Optimally, you should hunt with a buddy so they can help you in an emergency situation. If you are hunting alone and need to be rescued, someone will need to know where you are and how to find you. Before you go into the woods, you should always let others know your exact hunting location, where your treestand is located, when you plan to return, and who is with you.

You should always carry an emergency signal device on your person at all times in case of emergency so that you can contact someone to get rescued. Emergency Signal Devices can be any of the following:

Two-Way Radio

Cell phone

Personal locator device

Whistle

If you have to hang suspended in an FAS/FBH for an extended period of time before help arrives, seek suspension relief immediately by exercising your legs by pushing against the tree or doing any other form of continuous motion. This will help with suspension trauma, blood pooling in the legs. Failure to recover in a timely manner could result in serious injury or death. If you do not have the ability to recover or escape hutn from the ground. There are several optional , commercially available, self recovery or self extraction devices. These optional devices inable the user to be safely loswered to the ground automatically or under the control of the user. One of these devices can be considered for use as an aditional safety precaution against prolonged suspension trauma.